Liz Cheney won’t deny she’s planning Senate run

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday refused to deny that she was planning a run for Senate in Wyoming.

Politiconoted last week that Liz Cheney had been setting the stage for a possible Senate run by increasing her visibility and speaking at six events in Wyoming this year alone.

“This is planting seeds of thought in people’s minds,” Shawn Whitman, a former chief of staff for two Wyoming senators, told Politico. “There’s nobody I know that goes to those events unless they have a position in the party or they’re trying to run for office.”

Liz Cheney declined to speak to Politico, but she couldn’t avoid the question from Chris Wallace on Sunday while appearing on Fox News.

“I love Wyoming,” she explained. “Wyoming is my home. And what I have been hearing from people all across Wyoming is how important it is that we defeat Barack Obama in 2012. And they’re very afraid about — you ask people in Wyoming, ‘Are you better off now than you were $5 trillion ago?’ They’ll say, absolutely not.”

“There was a report yesterday that you’re traveling around the state, and that you’re thinking of running for Senate from Wyoming in 2014,” Wallace pressed.

“Look, I have been honored to have been asked to help support the Republican Party in Wyoming,” Cheney replied. “As I said, it’s my home. It’s a very special place, but I’m really focused on defeating Barack Obama. We don’t have the luxury, frankly, of looking beyond this election because this election is so important.”

“And let me tell you, folks: to be continued,” Wallace concluded.

Charles Mahtesian, Politico’s national politics editor, pointed out that “[f]or a nation forged by revolution against a hereditary monarchy, America has always had an unusual tolerance for — or even embrace of — political dynasty.”

“At the moment, there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 members of Congress whose parents also served in Congress, or have a sibling or cousin in Congress, or who succeeded to their husband’s seat,” Mahtesian wrote. “And there’s more waiting in the wings: Seven sons of congressmen are currently seeking election to the House.”

About the Author

David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.